Netomata Config Generator (NCG) Release Notes
Version 0.9.1
Released 14 April 2009
======================
Thank you for downloading the Netomata Config Generator (NCG)!
Description
-----------
Netomata Config Generator (NCG) creates complete, ready-to-install
config files for network devices and services from a common
light-weight model of your network. Because these config files are
generated programmatically (rather than by hand), and generated
from a shared model (rather than being managed separately for each
device or service), they are more likely to be consistent and complete,
which makes your network more reliable, easier to troubleshoot, and
easier to expand in both size and functionality.
The inputs to NCG are a model describing your network (.neto and
.neto_table files), and templates (.ncg files) for the config files
of the various devices (routers, swiches, load balancers, firewalls,
etc.) and services (SNMP, DNS, DHCP, etc.) that you want to generate
config files for. The outputs are complete, consistent, ready-to-install
config files for those devices and services.
For more information about Netomata and the philosophy behind NCG, see
http://www.netomata.com/benefits
http://www.netomata.com/blog/brent_chapman/2008/10/31/7
License
-------
Netomata Config Generator (NCG) is being released under the terms of the
GNU General Public License, version 3. See the "LICENSE" file in the
distribution for full details.
Prerequisites
-------------
See the "REQUIREMENTS" file for a discussion of other tools required
before installation of this tool. Essentially, you need Ruby 1.8.6
(other versions might work, but we haven't yet tested under other
versions) and the "facets" Ruby Gem.
The tool has been developed primarily on Mac OS X 10.5.6 (Leopard)
and Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid) Linux systems, but should work just fine
on any Linux/UNIX system where Ruby 1.8.6 is available. It has not
yet been tested on any Windows version; if you try it, let us know
how it works!
The "REQUIREMENTS" file includes step-by-step instructions for
installing the necessary prerequisite tools for several platforms.
Installation
------------
See the "INSTALL" file for step-by-step installation instructions.
Documentation
-------------
Program and file format documentation is online at
http://www.netomata.com/docs
A snapshot of this documentation is in the "doc" subdirectory
of the release.
Try It
------
In the "examples/switches" directory of the distribution, there is
a fairly simple example configuration that generates config files
for a pair of Cisco router/switches providing active-active redundancy
for a single-rack web hosting environment.
The file "examples/switches/README.switches" contains background
information about the example, and a step by step walk through using
the tool in various ways, to illustrate its capabilities and benefits.
Once you've played with the basic "switches" example, there is a more
complex and complete (and applicable in the real world) example in the
"examples/web_hosting" subdirectory of the distribution. See the
"examples/web_hosting/README.web_hosting" file for more information.
Status
------
This release should definitely be considered experimental in nature.
Commands and file formats are all subject to change, as we work out
what paradigms work best and figure out how to get the most out of
these tools. We'll try to limit future changes that break backwards
compatibility, but we can't promise that at this stage; right now,
we believe that it's more important to experiment with how best to
build and use this tool, rather than to carve anything in stone.
To make an anology to programming languages, this release is like
the interpreter for a language that is so new that the standard
libraries for the language haven't been developed yet. The basic
language capability is there, but the functionality and leverage
normally provided by standard libraries doesn't exist yet.
Community
---------
We're trying to build a community around NCG to share experiences, tips,
techniques, tricks, tools, and so forth. We have established both a wiki
and a set of mailing lists for the community; please see
http://www.netomata.com/community
Please join the community, so that together we can all get the most out of
this!
Future
------
Over time, we expect that a robust set of templates will be developed
to cover a broad range of network devices and services. Initially,
as they are developed and refined both by Netomata and our user community,
these templates will be made available through the community forums
(wiki and mailing lists) that are described above. Eventually, as
these templates evolve and stabilize, we'll probably start including
the best of them with future distributions.
We also anticipate developing a suite of tools beyond NCG, which will
all rely on the model you build of your network (the .neto and .neto_table
files) but will perform functions beyond simply generating config files;
for example, we're contemplating tools that will help you do capacity
planning and failure analysis.
Support
-------
If you have any questions or comments, or to report bugs, please contact us:
support@netomata.com
+1 510 355 0123 (main)
+1 510 355 0134 (fax)
# $Id: README 334 2009-04-13 22:31:31Z brent $
# Copyright (C) 2008, 2009 Netomata, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
# Please review accompanying 'LICENSE' file or
# http://www.netomata.com/docs/licenses/ncg for important notices,
# disclaimers, and license terms.